Mighty Warriors preps on course

HARARE - Mighty Warriors coach Shadreck Mlauzi says his team still has some work to do ahead of their African Women Championships qualifier next month.

The Mighty Warriors trooped into camp last week as they prepare for both the African Women Championships qualifier next month against Tanzania and Olympic Games in Brazil later this year.

Mlauzi’s charges did the country proud by becoming the first football side in the country to qualify for the global sporting showpiece in Brazil this year and will also be looking at qualifying for the African Women Championships.

And while satisfied with the progress the team is making, Mlauzi said they need to work hard.

“It is the beginning, we are happy that at least everything so far has gone according to plan,” Mlauzi told the Daily News.

“We have been conducting several tests that are going to give us guideline as to how best we can go about the fitness training of the players.

“Remember we are going to play at the highest level of football, so it is very important that we set standards based on international benchmarks in terms of fitness.

“After establishing the results, I am sure we will now be in a position to know exactly what we need to do going forward, especially physically. We need to work if we are to do well in these qualifiers.”

Mlauzi, who was handed over a brand new vehicle by Zifa on Monday, is confident his team will qualify for the African Women Championships that will be hosted by Cameroon later this year.

“We are setting high standards for ourselves. We have high expectations; we want to use the African Championships qualifiers as a springboard to gauge our strength as a team in preparation for the Rio Olympic Games in Brazil,” he said.

“It’s an opportunity once again to qualify for yet another major tournament. We want to continue rising in the rankings. So it’s about setting high standards for ourselves after obviously doing better against a team ranked higher than us (Cameroon).

“We are looking forward and we want to qualify.”

The Mighty Warriors face Tanzania on March 6 in Dar es Salaam for the first leg of the African Women Championships before hosting them for the return leg two weeks later.

The winner between Zimbabwe and Tanzania will meet either Namibia or Zambia in the last qualifying round.

Seven teams from the qualifiers will join Cameroon from November 19 to December 3 for the tournament.

Zimbabwe has qualified for the African Women Championships on three occasions in 2000, 2002 and 2004.

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